Chapter 149: Yinling Wellness Center (15)
Seeing Ji Ning's severe abnormality, Qin Yanshu simply turned off his listening device.
With everything so chaotic now, no one should even notice such a trivial detail.
Free from eavesdropping, Qin Yanshu swiftly found a clean cotton cloth, rolled it up, and helped Ji Ning plug her nostrils.
"Don't be afraid. We just need to clear this quickly and you'll be fine."
The nosebleed was definitely tied to the ghostly handprint. Ji Ning guessed her condition would only worsen, and if she couldn't clear the instance soon enough, she would die inside it.
While Ji Ning wasn't the type to mentally break down, she did feel a touch of tension.
But hearing Qin Yanshu's steady and calm words of comfort, she truly seemed infected by his composure. Her taut nerves loosened. Inwardly she thought, yeah, what's the big deal about a little blood? Just clear the instance and it'll all be over.
Ji Ning shoved the cloth plugs Qin Yanshu gave her deeper into her nostrils. While dressing quickly, she said to him, "Then let's hurry and regroup with Jiang Ting, see what's happening outside."
Qin Yanshu watched her deftly wipe the blood staining her lips, her pretty almond eyes bright, her movements brisk.
She was clearly scared just moments ago, yet she calmed down so easily.
Once Ji Ning was dressed, the two slipped out of the booth in the dark, arranging to meet Jiang Ting in the fire escape stairwell.
Opening the door, the outside was also shrouded in thick darkness.
Though she couldn't see what was happening, Ji Ning reached the first floor and quickly understood by sound that the screams she'd heard earlier in the booth mostly originated from here.
People terrified by the anomalies had flooded the first floor, rushing towards the main entrance of the club in a desperate attempt to flee. However, a bizarre force at the door controlled them. The moment anyone stepped outside the club's perimeter, amid sizzling, tearing sounds and screams, they would gradually fall silent.
Customers and employees who wanted to leave were stunned into inaction by the gruesome fates that befell those who ran out, their panicked flight slowly grinding to a halt.
Yet it wasn't just those trying to escape the ghost domain who were cruelly robbed of their lives. Those who remained inside the club were also being continuously tormented by evil spirits.
There was no time to lose. After getting a clear picture of the first floor situation, Ji Ning and Qin Yanshu immediately ducked away from the crowd and carefully slipped into the fire escape stairwell.
Jiang Ting had arrived before them and was already waiting there.
The moment he saw Ji Ning, even the usually unflappable man lost a bit of his composure. He couldn't help but stride up to her, grabbing her arm and pulling it close to his eyes to examine.
Under the white beam of his phone's flashlight, the black handprint on Ji Ning's arm had not only failed to fade but had grown even darker, even seeming slightly sunken into the skin.
Jiang Ting's brow furrowed into a deep inverted V. He cupped Ji Ning's face, looking at the remaining bloodstains and her plugged nostrils.
"Don't worry, I'm fine." Ji Ning herself had almost forgotten about it. Now, seeing the deep worry and distress filling Jiang Ting's eyes, her own heart clenched in response.
She wanted to soothe Jiang Ting and gave him a wide, toothy grin. "Maybe it's just a nosebleed from too much internal heat. It'll stop in a bit."
Ji Ning's smile was radiant and sweet, blooming like a sunflower in the darkness.
But upon seeing it, Jiang Ting and Qin Yanshu only felt more helpless and pained inside.
Ji Ning didn't understand why their expressions were growing increasingly grim until Jiang Ting's hand touched just outside her ear canal. His fingertip was again stained with a smear of dark blood, its color even deeper than what had flowed from her nose.
After the nosebleed, her ears were starting to bleed too. So did that mean this black handprint would ultimately lead to bleeding from all seven apertures?
Ji Ning froze for a moment, but quickly recovered her smile. She took Jiang Ting's hand and wiped it clean on her own clothes. "It's fine, it doesn't hurt at all. Let's just find a way to resolve this ghost domain quickly."
Not knowing how much time was left before Ji Ning's symptoms would erupt terminally, the mindset Jiang Ting had always maintained with unwavering stability in any situation crumbled like an avalanche. The fingers resting near Ji Ning's cheek trembled involuntarily, beyond his control.
The heavy weight clouding his eyes made even Ji Ning, who hadn't thought much of it before, feel sad.
To shift Jiang Ting's mood, her mind raced. She grabbed his hand, wrapping both of hers around it, and spoke rapidly, "Look, out of the three of us, I'm the only one afflicted. So outside, is it also only the customers who are cursed, while the employees are fine? If it's only the customers, then it means the ghost is targeting them!"
Qin Yanshu observed their interaction. Hearing Ji Ning say this, he added in a serious voice, "Correct. We need to figure out what this spirit's objective is first."
At the shift to official business, Jiang Ting finally pulled himself together. He pulled an employee badge from his pocket. "I swiped it in the chaos. We can check the upper floors now."
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